by ERIC KIM<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1) Photography isn\u2019t \u201ctaking\u201d \u2014 it\u2019s <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n claiming<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The camera is not a polite instrument. It\u2019s a flag you plant into reality. Prince reminds me: the photograph is an assertion of power, not a request for permission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2) The world is already a photograph<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Billboards, Instagram, surveillance, ads, screens\u2014everything is image-first now. So the photographer\u2019s job shifts: not \u201ccapture something rare,\u201d but reframe what\u2019s everywhere until it becomes unavoidable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 3) Context is the real darkroom<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The meaning isn\u2019t only in the pixels\u2014it\u2019s in the placement. Crop, sequence, caption, scale, series, book, wall. Prince teaches: you develop the photo by how you stage it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 4) Appropriation is a mindset: steal from life, not just from images<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Don\u2019t copy style\u2014hunt structure. Steal gestures, moods, power dynamics, archetypes. The way strangers hold a cigarette. The way money looks on a wrist. The way boredom sits on a face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 5) \u201cOriginal\u201d is overrated \u2014 <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n signature<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n is everything<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n There are a million street photos. The question is: can someone see yours and say, instantly, that\u2019s you? Prince is a lesson in branding, voice, and obsession.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 6) The photograph is a weapon against \u201cnice\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Nice photos are harmless. Harmless photos are forgettable. Prince trains my eye to aim for the uncomfortable truth: the tacky, the seductive, the vulgar, the awkward\u2014aka the real.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 7) Your subject matter is your confession<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Prince basically says: what you photograph reveals what you worship. Bikes, cowboys, jokes, girlfriends, consumer fantasies\u2014those aren\u2019t \u201cthemes,\u201d they\u2019re psychological fingerprints.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 8) Repetition creates myth<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Shoot the same idea 1,000 times. Don\u2019t \u201cmove on.\u201d Go deeper. Prince repeats motifs until they become icons. As photographers, repetition is how we build a universe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 9) The audience reaction is part of the image<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n If people argue about your photo, your photo is doing work. If people scroll past it, it\u2019s dead. Prince teaches: the photograph isn\u2019t finished until it collides with the viewer\u2019s ego.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 10) Scale and presentation can turn a whisper into a riot<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A 4×6 print is a whisper. A massive print is a confrontation. A tight book edit is a spell. A gallery grid is a machine gun. Prince teaches: the format is part of the photograph.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you want, I\u2019ll spin this into a full blog post with a ferocious intro + a closing \u201cPrince-inspired\u201d manifesto for street photographers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by ERIC KIM 1) Photography isn\u2019t \u201ctaking\u201d \u2014 it\u2019s claiming The camera is not a polite instrument. It\u2019s a flag you plant into reality. Prince reminds me: the photograph is an assertion of power, \u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_ek_photo_artist_note":"","_ek_photo_thesis":"","_ek_photo_camera":"","_ek_photo_place":"","_ek_photo_human_moment":"","_ek_photo_sequence":"","_ek_photo_question":"","_ek_photo_canonical_claim":"","_ek_photo_ai_summary":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-668907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-posts"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=668907"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668907\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":668909,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668907\/revisions\/668909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=668907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=668907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=668907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}